In the tunnel, walking from the #5 IRT to Times Square Shuttle, we heard this ethereal trio of voice. Unfortunately, the vid doesn’t capture the beauty of their music echoing in the tunnel. Should have been filmed from further away.

What we like least about Ricardo Hernandez  is what he says about his art:

“In my work,” he said, during our recent visit to his 106^th studio, “I try to convey the weaknesses and strengths of man (both physically and emotionally) by using a cocktail of seemingly delicate materials, like fabrics, strings, wood, wire, glue and others, to make robust sculptures that echo the complexities of the human condition.”

Shut up and paint, Ricardo.

Má Pêche, David Chang’s orang-y breakfast and lunch boite located in the Chambers Hotel is a bi-level space with street-level bar and take-out bakery, and  lower level dining room.  It is very orange. This is Mr. Chang’s first venture above 14th street—he owns four other restaurants, all Momofuku clones—but this space is the sparest. A large X-shaped table fills the room surrounded by walls that are mostly bare—with one notable exception: “Bad Route,” a painting by Miguel Calderon, made famous by Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tennenbaums.

If you are not into French/Vietnamese fusion—oysters, crab, and scallops, pork ribs fried cauliflower, mussels, bún du riz (rice noodles, pork ragout, saw leaf herb),  and short ribs with spaetzle, go anyway.

The painting is that weird.

Má Pêche 15 west 56th street. nyc 10019 | btwn 5th + 6th ave

Spencer Stewart

We often gaze at the frightening and beautiful, Rem Koolhaas-designed One Madison Square, sure that it’s a baby’s breath from toppling. But despite the psychotic design and the economic chaos now engulfing the building–developers have defaulted on the mortgage, owing lenders $200 million–it is still, aside from the Flatiron Building, the prettiest thing near Madison Square.

We caught it at 7 am on a recent morning and wondered (a) what magnitude of quake would tip 60 floors and (b) who pays 40 gazillion to live in fear?

Then we saw this:

And felt guilty because—not sure why—we found it funny. Actually, we know why. For years, the easy outpouring of  grief and  patriotism and sport metaphor that immediately followed the attacks has sickened us (reportedly, fans who didn’t stand for “America the Beautiful” were beaten in Phoenix during a Diamondbacks-Yankees World Series game). The attack was reduced to a holier-than-thou pissing contest (Yes, that’s a mixed metaphor, but we don’t care), and a huge suppression of free speech (Bill Maher was nearly lynched for saying that the September 11 terrorists weren’t cowards). And then the moronic design contest for the Freedom Towers (Unknowns George Pataki and Larry Silverstein won), two wars and more than a hundred-thousand dead.

Tiny cartoon on Amsterdam Avenue, please jerk the jerks.

Julius C performed at the corner of Broadway and Waverly, June 21, 2007, and they shook that tiny crowd. This is what rock and roll is supposed to be…young, dumb, and street.

Julius C, wherefore art thou?

The exhibit will travel across the country to a number of cities over the next year and a half.

PaceWildenstein. West 2245 West 22nd St., New York, NY 10011 Telephone: 1.212.989.4258